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Help for a friend!!

hey llladies!

my bff is due at the end of july and i am trying to find answers to some questions for her. i don't have much pumping experience, so i came to ask the experts.

she will have 3 weeks off after the birth before returning to work, at which point i will be watching the baby from 9:30 am to 6:30pm M-F. she plans on nursing exclusively while on maternity leave but would like to continue nursing after her return to work. so the questions are_

1- how does she go about building a supply for when she leaves the baby with me? can she pump after every feeding? (she will only have 3 weeks to get this going!)

2-how should she freeze it? bags?

3- nipple confusion....is that going to be a problem with the baby being so young?

Re: Help for a friend!!

Wow. That's not a lot of time.

I know personally a mama who had to do the same thing. I think, from what she told me, she started pumping after the second week, to get used to the pump and all of that. She started pumping after each feeding and took advantage of her oversupply in the morning. By the time she went back to work a week later, she had a couple day's worth of milk saved up and then pumped as much as she could at work. She nurses during her days off and pumps at work and donates her excess (which is quite a lot, actually).

She should store her milk in milk bags (Lansinoh, Medela, Honeysuckle, Simpliss), milk bottles (glass ones) or any of the various systems she could purchase. I do bags because I can freeze them flat and store them in ziplock bags. If she is just going to store a bit, whatever works for her is OK. Many working moms just have a bit extra stored and pump the next day's feeding at work the day before. Fresh milk is best. She should check for lipase activation to make sure her milk is staying good tasting and smelling before storing a lot, and some moms have trouble with lipase after just a few hours in the fridge, so knowing ahead of time saves a lot of heartache.

My friend has had no issues with nipple confusion, but baby never ever gets a bottle from her or in her presence. I can't remember what she's using, but it's not an easy to find brand. I'd never heard of them before.

Re: Help for a friend!!

1- how does she go about building a supply for when she leaves the baby with me? can she pump after every feeding? (she will only have 3 weeks to get this going!)

I was never lucky enough to be able to build a supply ahead of time when I started work. So I am pumping "just in time." I feed my DS the milk that I pumped the day before. For my first day back, I had to send him to daycare with formula.

2-how should she freeze it? bags?

I don't freeze very much, but when I am lucky enough to have some extra for the freezer, I use freezer-safe storage bottles. I only freeze 3 oz at a time, so it doesn't get wasted when I defrost it (it's only good for 24 hours after defrosting).

3- nipple confusion....is that going to be a problem with the baby being so young?

I think that all depends on the baby. I had low-supply issues in the beginning and DS also was not getting enough when he was at the breast. I was pumping, and feeding him both milk and formula in a bottle. I was lucky and he didn't have any nipple confusion. Now, he BFs at home with me and takes a bottle at daycare. We haven't had any issues. When you are feeding your friend's baby with the bottle, this website might help you give tips to avoid confusion a bit - http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

Re: Help for a friend!!

Originally Posted by @llli*pigpen777

how do you check for lipase? do they sell testing kits or something?

Pump a bit, leave it in the fridge and taste it every day. If it starts tasting like vomit or soap, there's a lipase problem. Scalding will prevent it, or if her milk takes a day or two to turn, just feed the milk fresh. That's how I've gotten away without scalding much lately.